Page 156 - CW E-Magazine (23-7-2024)

News from Abroad

FOCUS ON SPECIALITY CHEMICALS
Lotte to shift away from commodity chemicals to

boost profitability

South Korea’s second biggest petro- “We plan to change the level of petro- to raise sales of the speciality chemicals
chemicals manufacturer, Lotte Chemi- chemicals in our portfolio to ramp up business to 8-trillion won by 2030 from
cal, is set to more than halve its basic the company’s corporate value to more the 5-trillion won in 2023.
chemicals business by 2030 in its port- than 50-trillion won (from the current
folio while strengthening advanced 4.7-trillion won),” Mr. Lee pledged. The fine chemical business will also
materials and fine & speciality chemical be expanded. The firm plans to nearly
businesses to improve profitability and Lotte Chemical also plans to restruc- triple the business’ revenue to 5-trillion
boost its corporate value by more than ture the organisation by selling ineffec- won from the 1.8-trillion won last year.
10 times. tive assets and giving up loss-making
businesses to improve its free cash flow Lotte Chemical is poised to widen
Lotte aims to generate less than 30% by 5-trillion won by the end of 2025. its sharers in the secondary battery
of its revenue from the basic chemicals, materials industry, especially the cath-
which made up 60% of its total sales The South Korean petrochemical ode and anode foil markets. It aims
last year, its CEO Mr. Lee Hun Ki told industry has been suffering from the to increase sales of the business to
domestic institutional investors and rapid expansion of Chinese competi- 7- trillion won from 645-billion won. The
analysts recently. The business, which tors amid oversupply and dwindling company is also set to foster its new
manufactures polyolefins and aroma- demand in the global market. growth engine hydrogen energy busi-
tics, logged an operating loss of ness, which produces hydrogen with
492-billion won ($356.3-mn) last year Lotte Chemical plans to increase its by-product gases from the existing
on cut-throat competition with Chinese speciality chemicals business by rais- petrochemical production facilities. It
rivals, forcing the company to report a ing functional products in the advanced targets sales of 4-trillion won from the
loss of 347.7-billion won. material business. The company aims business.

Hurricane Beryl impacts operations of some refining &

chemical firms in Texas

At least one refinery in Texas, USA, Chlor-alkali producer,
was reportedly forced to cut its produc- Olin Corporation, also an-
tion rate and several major oil and gas nounced a temporary disrup-
shipping ports in Texas were closed as tion of operations at its Free-
of July 8, as Hurricane Beryl brought port (Texas) facility as a result
gushing winds and flooding rain on the of hurricane-related damage
US Gulf Coast near the home to key to its facilities. The company
chemical and oil refineries. said its normal production and
logistics capabilities including
Hurricane Beryl made landfall near access to power, raw materi-
Matagorda, Texas – located roughly as part of the preparation for Beryl. als, and other essential feedstocks and
equidistant between Corpus Christi and In addition to the Citgo plant, Corpus services, were impacted. Consequently,
Houston – as a Category-1 hurricane with Christi is the home of two other large the company has declared a system-wide
maximum sustained winds of 80-mph. US coastal oil refineries, namely the force majeure for its chlor-alkali pro-
350,000-bpd Koch Industries-owned ducts & vinyls division products and
Refiner, Citgo’s 175,000-bpd Cor- Flint Hill and 301,000-bpd Valero aromatics shipments. Olin said the
pus Christi refinery had reduced rates refineries. duration of the disruption is “uncertain”.

156 Chemical Weekly July 23, 2024

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